January 30, 2012

So, the weather here is very temperate, usually between 30-70 degrees Fahrenheit.  They tell me that it usually snows here once or twice a year, only a couple inches each.  So, of course, our first week here, we get the magical snowfall.  Ross tells me they panic just as much here as in Georgia.  I watched the news all day and laughed as the weather seemed to be the topic of interest.  It was quite beautiful and Ross said very slippery on the way home.  I had planned on walking to town, we were down to ½ roll of toilet paper!!  Forget bread and milk, I need toilet paper!  We thought we had purchased some Saturday, but again, silly language issue, we got paper towels.  So, I had Ross stop by the store on his way home and phew, we are now stocked up.  We had planned on eating out with a coworker, so I had no meal planned.  He  picked up some meat for dinner, two veal chops, so we were able to cook dinner and spend a quiet evening home.

I mentioned the rental furniture and dishes before.  I will be soooo glad when our things arrive.  I’m not a tiny girl and I do have issues with arthritis and artificial joints.  This couch (our only place to sit) is so low to the ground, I have to get up on the arm first before I can get up off of it. Before you laugh too hard, even Ross, with all his original joints struggles to get out of it.  Plus it’s a two seat-er, so we’re snuggled in cozy and tight.  Yesterday Ross called home and let it keep ringing because he knew it would take me a minute to answer if I had to hoof off the couch first.  When I purchased the furniture to come here, I made sure they were a bit taller.  The bed is low too, but not so bad that I can’t get out of it.

I am attaching a couple pictures of our floorings so you can see my various shades of brown!  Once our things are here and it’s not so bare, I think you won’t even notice the floors much, but right now they stand out.  Some of the tiles on the walls, (yes they go up the walls in the kitchen and bathroom) even have decorative tiles.  My kitchen work space is two small areas which are also tiles; grey this time.  I do laugh everyday in the kitchen, I’m like Alice when she fell down the rabbit hole and she is too big for everything.  I bonk my head on the cupboards and stove exhaust.  Hopefully I’ll learn not to stand up quickly when doing dishes or using the stove. 

Also sending a photo of my favorite cleaning product so far.  It made me smile J

Lastly today, I’ve been thinking about some of the fun cultural differences.  I think it’s hysterical that once I’ve met someone, it seems I have to kiss them as I greet them. (more like a fake kiss touching one cheek then the other making a kiss sound).  In all the years we’ve been married, I’ve never kissed Ross’ boss, real or fake!  Well, now I can say that I have!!  It’s quite sweet, but so different from the culture I’m used to.  Plus everyone shakes hands too, I know we shake hands to greet others, but this is way more.  Ross says at work, everyone says good morning and shakes hands with everyone else.  I pictured more rudeness, but people are so very friendly here.  It’s so sad that our perceptions are based on what we see in movies and on TV.  We think of France as all being like the Paris we see in movies and the people rude and that they hate Americans.  It couldn’t be more wrong.  Of course, their perception of the US is what they see of Hollywood and movies and then the rest on CNN. ARGH……I told my relocation lady not to believe a word of how we are portrayed there!!   The TV they get from America is old stuff like Friends, ER, Walker, Texas Ranger and then current Jay Leno episodes.  I’ve also noticed that children are the same all over the world, especially siblings.  It’s fun to watch them poke each other and brothers tormenting sisters.  The language may be different, but the play and goofing around is the same. I love that!!

January 29, 2012

Just a short note for today.  We visited L’Eglise Protestante Eangelique du Tours Nord today.  Had a nice time of fellowship and I think this will be our church.  It was recommended by three different sources from friends here and in America, so we felt it was a good fit.  One nice thing is there are four or five people who speak English.  The pastor’s wife is from Iowa!  The doctrine is sound and they are associated with France Missions.  We visited another church in November and really liked it too, but it was an hour and a half away plus 9 euro each way tolls.  So, it will be an occasional visit, not something we can be a part of regularly.  Churches here are different from what we are used to, but as with everything else, we are just looking at it as different and an adventure.  Some things will take time to get used to, but I’ll just appreciate more what I have at home when I’m there again J So, here in Tours Nord which took us 15-20 minutes, the singing was nice, piano and guitar, they use power point, so we can read along and sing.  They had all songs we knew, both hymns and camp choruses and that were originally done in America, they just translate them and try to fit the words in.  The lady who does the playing and translating to power point is Irish, so she is making songs work in French that she knew.  One I remember part of the words:

How great is our God

Come sing with me

Translated to:

Dieu est son grande

Nous chantons

We also did How Great Thou Art, which was neat.   Then the message had the verses and the points on the screen so with our handy dandy itranslate app and my English/French parallel Bible, we got most of the message about Gideon.  Ross put it well when he said understanding the spiritual language already helped us with the real language.  We actually think that this will help us learn the language faster than any other way, even our language school.  Especially singing songs we know the tune already!  There are about 45-50 people which is a nice size for us. 

Then home to install a shower handle kit that stays on the wall above your head rather than one where you just hold the sprayer over you in the tub. Yea for progress.  We cooked a nice little dinner together and had a relaxing Sunday evening, complete with Skyping Ross’ parents( A first) We laughed together and it was nice to see each other even with the hiccups in service when faces would freeze.  We’ve been Skyping the kids too, so I am really going to like that!!

January 28, 2012

Saturday and Ross is home all day-yea!  We headed out to do some much needed shopping, both food and electrical things.  We knew we’d have to buy all new electronics as the voltage is different, so this was a planned day, but oh, such a full list!  First off to “DARTY” the French version I guess of Brandsmart or Best Buy.  Anyway, the clerk follows you around and you tell them ( or in our case, point, translate, and try your best) what you want, they write it down and at the end they bring it all up front for you at the delivery desk.  First was a washer and dryer……oh what a production.  I had done some online research and been at the stores website ( thank you Google Translator), so I knew I wanted more than the average 3kg- 6kg washer.  We’re not little people, I’d like to wash more than one thing at a time!!  So I had picked a nice Electrolux washer that holds 8kg of laundry, plus they sell the platform drawer for it.  Being 6 ft tall, the washers were like little kid toys for me, so the platform was a necessity.  Got a dryer too, (with a platform drawer) but what was funny is that there is this dispenser at the front, top left of the dryer that holds water.  I tried and tried to find out what it was for, several salespeople tried to explain , I understood water.  Then voila, they found one salesperson that spoke fairly decent English, my new best friend.  WELL, in France you don’t vent your dryer with that long silver coil hose thing to the outside.  The moisture collects from the wet clothes into this container and when it gets full of water, you empty it out. Who knew?  So our trip to Darty became fun with our salesgirl who spoke no English and the occasional help form the salesguy who did.  We purchased our:  washer, dryer, electric kettle, Tassimo coffee maker, microwave,television, printer, cd player, 2 alarm clocks, hand mixer, crockpot, little grill thing like a George Foreman grill, home phones, extension cords, ink, vacuum and a toaster. Phew, by the end we were tired, but everyone was laughing so we didn’t turn them off Americans, just had them thinking we’re a bit nuts.  Then at the end I think I embarrassed Ross when I asked if there were any discounts for such a big order.  I had been told sales and discounts are very rare here.  I told him “hey , if you don’t ask”.  Well she toddled off to her manager, keep in mind we’d been here two hours now and had them scrambling all over the store with us.  Well she came back and lo and behold they offered us 20 euros off or an extended warranty on some things. Well, we don’t need the extended warranty J , so I said we’d love the discount.  At the end the manager came up, said something about our huge order, plugged in some codes, and in the end they smiled and gave us 10% off. YAHOO!

I have my standard French lines memorized about how we just moved here for Ross and his job and are learning French and will be here two years etc.  People seem to help then!  So, most of the items we took with us, but my washer/dryer and tv come Wednesday. YEA.  We have the rental tv, but Ross left his dirty laundry here two weeks ago and we’ve got all of what we’ve accumulated this week and last, so I’ll be excited to have the washer and dryer here. 

Then a quick lunch, potty break (photo attached).  Many public toilets  here are okay, but honestly some of them are disgusting.  The oddest thing to me is that in a ladies room, toilet seats seem to be an optional item. REALLY?!  Tall woman with artificial hip here, hello!!! 

Off to Auchon (which we pronounce O-shun and they laugh at us).  It’s kind of a Walmart type store where you can get food, but also household goods and misc. items.  We will never shop again without translating first.  In fact I’ve already got my list done in English, and had Word translate each item so I’m not stumped in the stores again.  I didn’t think it would be that hard to figure which was soap for dishes, laundry, floors, dishwasher, etc. I just figured I’d know and there would be pictures to help. HA!  We have a fabulous itranslate app now too, which will be a lifesaver. We managed to make our way aisle by aisle kind of aimlessly wandering and grabbing things.  Keep in mind for almost 30 year of marriage I’ve done my grocery shopping alone, so this was a real treat for Ross, who hates shopping of any kind and this has become an all day event. 

I threw him at first when I wanted two carts (they’re small)  I had to tell him that when the boys were teens and Duey lived with us and they ate so much that I always  pushed one-pulled one cart to get all the food, and our carts were much bigger.  Here you put in your half euro coin to get a cart (like at Aldi’s) and you get it back when you return the cart.  This was our first stock up grocery shop too, so things like salt, ketchup, mustard, etc are needed too.  We had fun, and this is my first shopping for two only experience in years and years, so I had to re-program myself a bit.  Only 4 apples, small bag of oranges, two pieces of meat, etc. 

We survived and really had a fun day.  Then home to open and put our electronics away.  For a while we’ll shop together, Luynes has a farmers market each Saturday so next weekend we’ll walk to town and see what we can get.

Lastly, someone asked how I came up with the title “A Broad Abroad”.  Well, we love the show An Idiot Abroad, and I wanted something clever but not plagiarizing.  I asked for suggestions on facebook.  Thought you’d get a laugh, so here is a short list of samples:

-A flying Pilgrim

-A Bather in the Land of the Great Unwashed

-An Amazon in France

-A Freak in France

-Exceedingly Altudinous Madame

-Ooh la la Lisa

The Musings of Madame McCulloch

-A Great Scot (in Paris)

-Excuse-moi

I appreciated all the suggestions and went with A Broad Abroad which was partially suggested by a friend who didn’t want to reveal her name, and then Lindsay kind of changed it to its current name.  Honestly, who spends that much effort naming something?  Only me!

January 27, 2012-cont.

In the morning my relocation agent Valentine picked me up and took me into Tours to get my cell phone.  I’m so glad she was there as it would have been nearly impossible to do on my own without a translator.  But, I now have an American iPhone which I will turn on and use when in America and a French iPhone that I use here.  It sounds quite complicated, but really made sense financially and practically.  I can call the US free on my home phone service so I just got a cell here that is good for calls here.  With imessage, I can text my kids for free which makes me happy.  We can also Skype on my phone and laptop, so that makes me seem not so far away.  In case you somehow need to contact me, my email is still the same  culloch@bellsouth.net , but my French home phone is +33 02 34 36 02 22 and our address is 20 Rue Andre Malraux 37230 Luynes France.  My French cell is +33 06 03 60 12 97 , but remember if you text or call me from America, we’ll both pay a fee.  So, email and Facebook are the best ways to contact me J

Today I also went for my first walk into downtown Luynes.  Before you get too excited, downtown is a word that conjures in your mind many shops, but in Luynes, not so.  It is about a ten minute walk from the house, on a tiny path like sidewalk, well mostly sidewalk.  It’s a downhill walk into town, but not so steep that the return home is very difficult.  Sophie and I set off on our adventure.  She did much better than I thought she would, before she would walk for a ways and then kind of climb my leg to let me know she’d like to be carried now please.  Keep in mind she is only 4lbs 5 oz., so walking far is tougher on her.  But, she was so excited to go and managed to walk both ways without being carried. 

Downtown I can go to a Boulangerie/Patisserie which is a cute little bread maker/bakery shop, so far I’m very impressed with their products!!  There is also a Brasserie which is a bar/restaurant.  They do a few sandwiches and a plate of the day.  It’s an odd little place, but my only choice for a cup of tea or snack downtown during the day.  There are two butchers, I only went to one so far and it scared me.  Somehow in my mind meat should never look gelatinous or be squished like that.  There were some cuts of “real” meat, but I was afraid to try them yet. (got some nicely packaged meats at the grocery store, at least they looked familiar!). There is also a little superette, type store which carries one of most necessities but at a higher price than the store.  In a pinch it will do, but not as a regular place.  We do have a pharmacy as well but I haven’t gone in yet.  I’ve been told there are a doctor and a dentist as well.  Although in the next little town Fondette (our bank is there), the dentist trained in Texas and speaks English, so that will be our dentist of choice J

So, Sophie is allowed anywhere here, in stores, restaurants, banks, etc.  It’s amazing really, to be out to eat and a lady has her dog under the table or sitting next to her.  She and I made the rounds of a few shops, got some apples and Brie (reduced) at the little superette, bread and pastries at the baker and headed home.  Not bad for our first try.  I didn’t even get lost!

January 27, 2012

Many people have commented on the picture of the beautiful gardens at our house.  Well the photo was taken when the owners lived here and not the current state of affairs.  Jean-Luc, who owns the house, is actually on a foreign assignment in the USA at the SKF in Flowery Branch.  Yes, I know it seems to makes no sense that he left here and went to Georgia while Ross left Georgia to come here!  Anyway, he and his wife worked hard to make the gardens beautiful when they lived here.  There was a renter in the house for a year and he did not touch the yard at all and then the house sat vacant for a few months.  So, in doing our lease, we asked for garden care to be part of our rent as Ross doesn’t do yard work and I have a BLACK THUMB…..my children refer to any plants I may get as being on “Death Row”.  This week the man is coming to hack away, trim, tidy, and make it nice again.  Hopefully with my limited French vocabulary and hand gestures I can communicate with him. 

The house itself is not big, but perfect for our needs.  We have a small living room, a dining area, kitchen, laundry room, bathroom (the room with the sink and shower), a WC (the room with a toilet), and bedroom all on the first floor.  We will mainly use this floor as our living space.  Upstairs there are four bedrooms and a bathroom, plus a WC.  We will furnish two of the upstairs bedrooms for guests (hint, hint).  The bedroom downstairs is small, room for a bed and two nightstands.  It does have one wall with a built in wardrobe closet which Ross will use. Fortunately across from the bedroom is the laundry room which goes into what used to be the attached garage.  It is small, really no car should have ever gone in it!  It has been converted into a studio where Jean-Luc’s wife painted.  BUT, I will make it my walk in closet and dressing room J  I will use one area of it for storage of suitcases, etc., but other than that, it’s my little space.   I’m attaching some photos of inside, we won’t have our own things for a while, but they show the kitchen and the size of my “mini” fridge and stove. 

A couple funny things about the house……

1.     The WC (toilet room) is actually in the hallway at the front entry. 
I find it odd that the sink is around the corner, down the hall in the bathroom.  Guess I’ll be sanitizing doorknobs!!  I’ve been so spoiled by having a master bathroom, that it seems really funny getting up to use the toilet during the night, and you leave the bedroom, go down the hall, turn into the entry to get there!  Plus, the toile right in the entry off the living room is hysterical.  If you leave the door open, you can visit while using!

2.    The flooring: It is funny to me too.  Each bedroom has hardwoods, which is fine, but the living room, kitchen and bathroom are all tiles. Now they’re not the same tiles, but different sizes and shapes and patterns, even though they all butt up to each other,  YET, all are different multi colored browns.  Our furniture and tables are all black, so that should be interesting.

3.    The shutters:  Every window has outside shutters and several of the windows are really floor to ceiling French door type things.  Every house in France it seems shuts the shutters at night and opens them all in the morning.  So, I go around twice a day, open the windows and doors, and then open or shut the shutters.  They latch to the house outside so the wind doesn’t blow them, so some of them it involves going outside to fix or unhook.  The windows have no screens and they all open in, so it’s not hard, just a funny little routine.  It lets the light in during the day and it makes it nice and dark for sleeping. 

4.    The heat system:  Each room has an electric radiator in it.  When we arrived, it was cold and dreary out so Ross went to turn them all up.  They had been set low in the empty house.  There are two knobs on each, one with pictures that make it go red or green; the other with numbers 1-6.  We got the 1-6 thing, and thought we had the other until I was just freezing after several hours.  Apparently, when the light is red, the heat is on and when it’s green there is no heat.  It was exactly the opposite of what we thought.  No A/C here, so when it gets hot that should be interesting.  People said they just open windows and hope for a breeze……but, with no screens, I’m not to keep on critters and bugs visiting, so we’ll see how that goes.

5.    The tv:  We got a package but we only get four English speaking channels, all news so that is kind of sad.  At night sometimes they run an old Leno or
Friends episode in English-whoopee!  Once we learn the language, the others will make more sense, but even then it is NOT television like we’re used to in the US. Any American shows are ancient and in French.  Nothing like Walker, Texas Ranger or Urgence (ER) in French to pass the time.    Guess we won’t watch much tv which is a probably a good thing, but how will I know who wins American Idol or The Sing Off?  J

January 26, 2012

Funniest moments so far: 

1.     When Ross accidently told a waitress “thank you” in German ( he had years of German and sometimes confuses it with french) only to have a co- worker tell him that the German word he used means “man parts” in French J

2.    We will need to buy food regularly as they do not use preservatives here, however we must NEVER use the word preservatives when talking about food, because here  the word “preservatives” means “condoms” J

3.    I am SURE we will have many more “ooops” moments.  I’ll keep you posted!

January 25, 2012

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 6AM (midnight –body time).  First thing, Sophie and I hit the ladies room.  Don’t know who needed it more? I put her pee pee mat on the floor and she was thrilled to use it. (TMI ? – oh well)  We then headed to Immigration first where they do passport control.  We sailed right through!!  After that, baggage claim where you wait and hope your bags all arrive.  There was some confusion by the announcer on the plane as to which carousel our luggage would arrive at, so people from the flight wandered between the two choices.  Our bags all arrived and thankfully they provide carts for luggage as we were loaded down.  Next, onto Customs where we were worried about getting through with my medication and the dog.  I had visions of every bag being opened and inspected ( I did pack an aerosol hairspray after all).  Then I had nightmares of strip searches and machine gun wielding guards.  I had all Sophie’s papers ready to show and expected to be taken to the French version of the USDA office.  Well, in France, you walk through and if they wave at you, you must stop, but if they nod, you just go on.  We got the nod, but wanted to be honest, so I held up Sophie’s carrier to make sure they saw the dog.  He smiled and said “Go on”.  WHAT ?......no one ever checked any of her paperwork on either side. Amazing!  I had been asking people to pray for a smooth way, but this was truly more than I expected.  I know if I hadn’t gone to all the work to have her papers in order, we would have been stopped.  So we’re in the country legally, Sophie I’m not sure about, according to the French government, she doesn’t exist!

As we walked from the airport to the attached train station with our mound of luggage and other assorted items I was once again welcomed with the “smells of France”.  For those of you who don’t know, I have a hyper sense of smell and bad or strong odors really bother me.  Well, as you pass people who obviously live in the train station and airport with all their possessions on luggage carts you can’t help but notice some funky smells.  Take the one lady drying her laundry along the radiators (oh yum) or the guy sleeping on the floor right on the walkway where you have to pass ( shudder). 

We then proceeded to a free bench, which was a rare thing, where we spent three hours waiting for our train.  It was then that my body started feeling really tired and it was sooooo cold.  So picture me at my finest…..tired, cold, uncomfortable, whiney, trying not to smell and waiting for what felt like an eternity.  I really don’t enjoy travelling, oh I like going, and I love being new places and seeing new people, it’s just the transportation side of it I hate.  I really don’t know how Ross does it week after week, year after year.

Getting on the train was an event in itself, we had to give up our luggage trolley, I wish I had a photo of us pulling and dragging it all.  Then, ahhhhh, I slept on the hour and a half train ride from Paris to Tours.  I pity the other travelers as I caught myself “snorfulling” several times.  That’s my word for when you sleep upright but must snore a bit and kind of choke yourself awake.  Yea, as we got off the train, a co-worker of Ross was also arriving and ran to help drag our things.  And, thank you SKF, they had arranged for a driver to pick us up. It was funny hearing them say our name, everyone here pronounces it Mac-cool-uck!!  The driver took us to SKF where they had a rental car waiting for us.  Then, finally after we had now pretty much been up the better part of 24 hours, we drove to our rental house in Luynes. 

January 2012

The flight: First time taking Delta which has a non-stop flight from Atlanta to Paris and they allow dogs on the cabin.  We are spoiled and used to Ross getting special treatment through USAir and Lufthansa and I’ve always used mileage to fly business class, so my world has come to a crashing sense of reality.  Even ahead, I’ll be using the miles to fly coach so I can go back and forth more often rather than waste them and fly business.  So, Katie and Liam took us to the airport.  I did good and only got teary once or twice……..I was trying so hard not to blubber the whole way in the car.  I cry ugly and my eyes get all blotchy and I didn’t want to spend my time flying all stuffed up.

The lady at the Delta counter laughed as we rolled up with four suitcases ( one too heavy-pay a fee, then only one allowed each-pay another fee).  We knew the fees were coming and we were okay with that, but still.  Plus I had a backpack carryon plus Sophie in her little cloth bag ( oh by the way, then had to pay her fee for the flight which had been quoted as the domestic price, not the international one).  Ross had his briefcase and a box with a cooler inside with my Humira on ice to carry on the plane.  We were like a comedy duo.  Getting the luggage checked was such a relief.  I didn’t have time for crying, trying to wheel two cases, wear a backpack and carry a dog were enough to keep me focused! 

On board it was a small, old plane (oh joy).  I had to politely inform the guy in front of me that he could not recline as those were my knees he was feeling. J  Only one movie screen in our cabin and it was way left and front, plus no choice of movie.  Even the “cheap’ seats on Lufthansa have individual screens and choices. Oh well……..We drugged Sophie upon boarding, I had two meds from the vet and had been practicing for days as to which med and which dosage would be best.  I was so worried about her on the flight, if she had a barking spell or yipped, I’d have gone nuts.  Lindsay told me that one good airline toilet flush would take care of that.  Turns out she is a better flier than me!  She had to stay in her case the whole time and stayed under our feet and slept most of the way. 

October 2011-December 2011

At the end of October I left my position at Maranatha Christian Academy.  It was an emotional last couple weeks as I not only left my babies, but some of my dearest friends.  I also had the grandbaby is due any moment crazy emotions swirling at the same time.  I had a friend tell me that on those “stress tests”, the top three stress contributors are: 1. A birth or death, 2. A move, 3. Changing or losing a job.  So, while I should have been crazy and stressed out, God gave me a real peace and calmness during this time. 

Then, as Liam arrived November 3^rd, I was not quite prepared for the emotions of my son becoming a father and me becoming a Nana!  I cried for two days whenever I looked at him or thought about him.   But, it was a wonderful time and they were happy tears.

After Thanksgiving, Ross and I spent two weeks in France getting acclimated and looking for housing.  We had a cottage house that a co-worker owned available to us, and when I saw it, I knew the house was perfect, but wasn’t sure of the location being out in the country.  Since I would not have a car, I thought it would maybe be better to find something nearer the city.  However, after spending a day touring homes and apartments……our own version of International House Hunters….we knew the original house was the one for us.  Apartments and homes in France are much like they are pictured on tv…..very bare! No light fixtures, no kitchen cabinets or appliances and sometimes no flooring.  With each of them I still found no shopping within walking distance and would have to rely on busing.  At the end of the day, we decided that taking a bus 20-30 minutes was preferable to have the original house….complete with cabinets, appliances, flooring and most light fixtures!!

We were home for the holidays and I spent that time shopping for France.  We are given an allowance for purchases and the company would ship a large container for us.  We discovered that costs were much more in France…..basically the same in Euros as in dollars.  So, within one week, in the US, I furnished the whole house (furniture, kitchen utensils, linens, dishes, pans, laundry supplies, etc) from Ikea and Amazon Prime.  My neighbor saw 65 boxes delivered from Amazon and asked what on earth I was giving the kids for Christmas!!  When the Ikea delivery showed up, they just laughed.

Christmas was spent with family and we all enjoyed being together.  Lindsay and Calum began joking about becoming  “orphans” and how they could tell people they shared a home together in Buford instead of living with the parents.  Hey, we’ve waited for them to move out and when they showed no signs of it, we decided we’d move out instead!  Movers arrived to pack and ship our belongings, Ross left for France to start his new job and I waited until he returned home before leaving for France myself.  I spent that time seeing many friends and having a lot of fun with them “one last time”.  Also, spent time getting Sophie all set for the move.  She needed several vet visits, a pet passport, approval by the USDA, a reservation on the flight, it was quite a production.  Katie brought Liam to town the last week and let me have him part of every day.  I loved every minute!!!

These are my random musings about my life in France.  My children laughed when I said I would start blogging about it, and they said no one would ever want to read about that. J So, if you’re not interested…….don’t read on !

July 2011

In July, my life was going along in a nice orderly fashion.  I was preparing for a new kindergarten year, waiting for the birth of my first grandchild, and working at Camp Hope over the summer.  Then the Lord decided to stir things up when Ross arrived at Teen Camp for a visit.  He told me he had been asked to take a position in France for two years.  When I announced it to the staff, Mr. Ed looked up and said “France, why that’s a different country”.  So, the saga begins……

August 2011-October 2011

Plans continued for the move to France.  Ross did not go after the position, nor did he interview for it.  It just sort of happened.  So, he began working every other week in Georgia and every other week in France.